Chapter X: Deja Vu

It hurt like hell—no, to be more accurate, it hurt like he'd been to the Distortion World and back, and that in itself wasn't a comfortable experience in the first place.

To struggle for control over his body—to play a role that he hadn't ever dreamed of before—all sorts of confusion racked his mind, and the memories that he had once been blissfully unaware of had all come flooding back—and the events of the just gave him an unending migraine.

"Give it back, Xerneas." Desperation laced his breathless tone, if he could even call it speaking—he was now reduced to a fraction of the Legendary's mind—what he was supposed to be in the first place. It hurt knowing that his body was, in actual fact, owned by this creature whom he once thought of as kind.

There was no response. Xerneas didn't seem to be listening to him—didn't seem to be listening to the only functioning part of her sanity—and that very fragment of her mental soundness was only a shallow pool that couldn't even hold himself together at that very moment.

He shivered—it was an unconscious action; he wasn't even cold, but he was scared and that might have led to the faint trembling in his shoulders.

"This isn't right," he tried to yell at the deity that had trapped him in a dark corner of his own body, but the words disappeared into something more suited to a cracking whisper. "You have to stop, Xerneas. Just accept your fate and let them—"

It felt like he was suffocated after that—a length of invisible fabric was smothered against his mouth and cut off his sentence, causing him to grimace and inhale for breath—but that too was useless, of course; he didn't even have a physical body to breath with.

Has Sachi really been enduring so much just because of Arceus' orders?

He now knew why she hadn't wanted him to follow despite knowing that his fate couldn't be avoided—it was an act of pure insanity that had poisoned her mind. Besides, she hadn't wanted him to see her vile actions—the killing of innocent men that tried to stop her, the scent of blood tainting her sinful hands.

No wonder he hadn't wanted to leave her. No wonder he felt some strange attraction to her, as if they had knew each other in a previous life—which they had. No wonder he felt himself unable to leave her at all—they had used to be so close, and it was a wonder that he was even able to forget what had transpired.

Godammit. He wasn't one to curse, but he supposed that the action could be excused every once in a while. If the flashbacks Arceus gave me are correct...then I promised to always remain by her side, but I broke that promise already.

It was too much for him to handle right now, and he was confused and panicked just like a wild Pokemon would be. What was he supposed to do in a situation like this?

"Akoni, your emotions are overloading your senses." Arceus' calm voice dragged him back down to reality, and he took a deep breath, trying to slow down his racing heart—the beats that thudded through his head were far too loud; they interrupted any form of coherence that his thoughts brought and he needed that to stop.

"You have to calm down." He felt like snapping back at the Legendary's voice, but he knew that it wouldn't do anything—it was best to conserve his energy and stay quiet. "I did not give these memories to you in order for you to fly into a panic like this. Try another approach—why not use these memories to fuel you?"

With a grudging level of acceptance—Arceus was right, but his thoughts were all over the place and he couldn't think straight—he nodded at no one in particular.

The teenager tried once again, his voice cracking as he tried to grab onto whatever trace of control was in reach—but then again, the word "control" was already slipping through his fingers, and he could only pray that his yells had not gone unheard.

Why won't she listen? He leant back—metaphorically, of course, because he was just a useless spirit now—and blinked away the tears clouding whatever was left of his vision—and watched on in fury as he glanced through the window of sight he had been allowed. Was I really that insignificant to her?

"No, you were not." Arceus' omnipotent voice resounded like a knife stabbing the truth into his reluctant ears. "The warmth Xerneas had shown you was not faked—I can assure you that. You two were close in that timeline too—you were known as the ideal team of Legendary and host for a reason."

He muttered a grudging thanks to the Legendary—but his attention had to be focused on the guardian of Life. If they had developed such a relationship, then he just had to evoke those memories from the back of his partner's mind—drag it past whatever damned fog had settled over her idealistic brain.

"Listen, Xerneas," he begged, his voice dying and pain racking his body like a knife twisting to his stomach, "I don't know what you're thinking. Heck, I don't even know who I am right now—but all I know is that surrendering is the better option here. You won't be able to dent Fate."

His breath hitched—a mixture of the pain that came with speaking in a spiritual form and a certain desperate toxin lacing itself into his voice.

"Nothing will be wrong if you choose to follow Arceus' set path," he continued, taking a deep breath—was it to reassure himself or the Legendary? "You'll just have to wait another thousand years, and the world will be in good hands until then. Yveltal and Sachi are working so hard just to patch up their sins—to repent—and please, for everyone's sake, please listen to them."

Silence. There was absolute silence for a few moments, and he hoped that his words had been forceful enough—and his prayer was answered as, for a split-second, colour overwhelmed his irises once more, and he found himself jerking back as he was met with wide blue eyes.

Sachi, it's—he felt a numbing pain ricochet through him as the girl plunged her sword through his shoulder, cutting his thoughts off—and he felt nausea rock against his sealed lips as he realised dully that he couldn't feel the pain; only a faint throb at the back of his chest as the wound closed.

Those thoughts came to an abrupt halt as he was pulled back from the thrill of the actual world and back to his suffocating prison of shadow—but a small, tired smile lifted his lips into an exhausted upwards curve.

The first step had been taken—all he had to do was keep trying.

⚔ ∰ ⚔

A sliver of hope rekindled inside her like a spark of fire that she tried to squash down with all her might—she knew that emotions were only getting in the way of her goal; what she had to do in order to salvage the remaining goodness in her.

When she'd seen the brilliant gold break through the wall of icy cobalt, her heart had leaped against her will—because she wanted him back in his body even though she knew that it was useless. That he would be dead within the day and nothing would change his fate.

The blue made its eventual return, but it was a paler shade of cerulean this time—it was as if the sapphires had lost their sparkle. That was how she knew that Akoni was still fighting for control—fighting to get his thoughts across to his partner, and as long as he kept up the silent struggle, things would play out as Fate had suggested.

"You are only destroying yourself and Akoni," Sachi hissed, stepping back and diving to the side as a Moonblast was aimed for her heart. "This is a pointless battle—we are doing nothing more than delaying the inevitable. Stop trying to bring this reign of chaos upon the world."

Xerneas simply gazed back with that sweet smile of hers—it made her sick seeing that chilling expression on Akoni's face—and it took all her willpower for her to keep in mind that the Legendary was simply misguided and not all bad.

In a way, she wanted to improve the world as she saw fit—it was just that her methods were flawed and it would never be able to work.

"Are you just fighting for your lover?" the creature uttered, and that caused her icy irises to narrow in her direction—she jumped as she heard his voice, but her heart fell as she realised that it wasn't him—it was just an imposter who spoke in a tone much too coated with toxic syrup for it to be him.

"You just want him to die as Akoni, right? You—" she was cut off from her tirade as her voice distorted, and one of the boy's eyes reverted back to its original amber. "Akoni, you have to—ugh—"

The soft voice that replaced Xerneas' anger and unjust feelings brought a wave of calm, and the girl's hand slowed as the other blue eye shifted to a bright canary-yellow—yet, she was unable to bring her arm to a stop, and a strangled gasp escaped her lips as she tightened the limb in a desperate attempt to halt her action. "Hey, Sachi—there's no need to worry. I—"

A cough interrupted his speech—and the former princess realised in horror that the choked sound had been from her blade having gone uncontrolled—and she could only watch as if she was in an out-of-body experience as the sword plummeted through his chest and look at his expression, wide-eyed and pained yet somehow knowing—and she wanted to look away; anywhere but his face, but she couldn't.

On instinct, she jerked the blade out—she cursed at herself; it had to hurt more, but she couldn't bear seeing the weapon through his heart any longer—and stepped back, blue eyes unable to comprehend the bloody sight in front of her.

"I couldn't heal the most broken one despite having Xerneas' powers," he mumbled, words incoherent as he stumbled backwards. "Sorry."

"No..." she whispered, wanting to say that this was all a mistake, that this could be fixed—but it wasn't a mistake and it had been what she'd been planning from the very start. "Akoni—"

She knelt down as the boy collapsed to the ground—limp and against his will like a rag doll, and the mask he'd been wearing—it looked stupid on him—fell, saved only by his trembling hand that grasped onto it like a lifeline.

She contained a low growl—she wanted nothing more than to rip Celebi's mask off, but she needed it for her final sin and she couldn't bear to just get rid of one of his creations.

"It's OK now, right?" Akoni's voice was more like a whisper; nearly inaudible and dying against the light of the setting sone. "You did what you had to. Everything is fine now, right?"

The assassin took a few moment to reply—she wanted to snap back some reply about how he'd been so stupid, but she couldn't because she was too angry—how could everything be fine? How could everything be OK when he was lying there in a pool of his own blood?

"You—" She figured that there would be other chance to tell him—he was dying, and she had to tell him about the roles they'd use to play, as if they were actors, unknowing children acting out characters all in some sick play that Fate had conjured up. "You were—"

She was cut off by a finger against her lips—and the skin against her mouth was cold and unnerving—it made her want to throw up. The boy blinked through her with dull eyes—as if remembering as he had intended to do something—and moved his hand further up her face, his fingers wiping away her burning tears with one swift actions.

A laugh—weak and punctuated by harsh coughs that trailed off into the newborn darkness—filled her ears. "There's no need to hurt yourself by telling me, Sachi." He couldn't form a smile—he was too tired to form one—but the equivalent of that very expression had been injected into his voice. "I know."

"What?" Her reply was only a hushed whisper—yet, she felt as if it was all the surprise she cold ever convey. "How could you—"

"Arceus told me," he muttered back. "I'm sorry. I never noticed it all along."

And as his eyes closed, a knowing smile finally having pushed through the waves of fatigue and blooming on his pale lips, a broken chorus of all the pain and anger at how rotten the world had been—like it was a child staging a twisted performance and using the broken dolls that they'd become as a substitute for puppets—

—she screamed.

⚔ ∰ ⚔

heh

two more chapters, guys.

Anyway, thank you guys so much for 1.2K reads and 153 votes! I really appreciate your support gais <3

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~ nyxia ☆